Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

March 2026

Submission prepared to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner

The Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Special Rapporteur’s country visit to Australia. This submission focuses on the Institute’s peacebuilding approach as a First Nations women-led model that advances the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It responds particularly to the areas of self-determination, First Nations women and girls, participation in decision-making, and good practices in community-led systems change. The Institute operates as a national mechanism grounded in the voices, authority, and lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, girls and gender-diverse peoples. Our work demonstrates how peacebuilding, when led by First Nations women, functions as a practical pathway for realising rights across legal, policy, and institutional systems. This submission is intentionally scoped. The Institute does not seek to provide a comprehensive account of all human rights issues facing First Nations people in Australia. Instead, it offers peacebuilding — as practised and developed by First Nations women — as a model that the Special Rapporteur may wish to examine, document, and recommend. It is offered in the knowledge that other submissions will speak to the wider landscape.

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